Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City: Pressure on Spurs to Maintain Push Towards Champions’ League Places

Reigning Premier League champions, Manchester City are stuck in an impasse in this seasons’ league campaign. Pep Guardiola’s side are a whopping nineteen points behind the runaway leaders, Liverpool, but are comfortably in a Champions’ League qualification spot, and have a three-point lead over third-placed Leicester City.

There is an element of an argument to suggest that City can meander to the end of the league campaign and concentrate on the three potential cup competitions of which the Sky Blues are still involved in. It is unlikely that Guardiola will stand for such mediocrity, so he will bring his team to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Sunday afternoon – kick: off 16:30 GMT – firing on full cylinders.

Spurs have been going through a difficult period recently with the absence of their talisman, Harry Kane, who his nursing a severe hamstring injury, and is likely to be unavailable till April at the earliest. Tottenham boss, Jose Mourinho still has options in forward areas, however, and with the recent purchase of PSV Eindhoven’s Dutch winger, Steven Bergwijn, the attacking squad numbers at Mourinho’s disposal are now equal again after letting Christian Eriksen leave for Inter Milan earlier this week.

Make no mistake, this is a very difficult game for Spurs on Sunday afternoon, and they cannot afford to lose further ground behind Chelsea in the race for the top four places. The Lilywhites are currently six points behind their West London rivals, and a victory here would be a huge boost for Spurs’ aspirations on the top four.

Event Date: February 2, 2020

Match Odds

Manchester City are the very strong favourites with the bookmakers to win this game, and City can be backed at the best industry price at the time of writing of 6/11 with VBet to stretch their unbeaten run to six games in the Premier League.

The Draw is next best in the Match Odds market and is currently available to back at 19/5 with Unibet, while the home win for Jose Mourinho’s side can be taken with William Hill at the tempting odds of 5/1.

From previous results, just three games between these teams have ended in draws since the turn of the last decade. Manchester City have ultimately had the better of the exchanges between the pair in recent years. October 2016 was the last time Spurs beat Manchester City in front of their home fans in the Premier League, with an own goal from Aleksander Kolarov and a Dele Alli strike. Goals do look likely in this contest, with the Draw being a tentative selection at 19/5 with Unibet.

Individual Goal Scorers

Sergio Aguero

Manchester City’s star striker, Sergio Aguero was in action on Wednesday evening in their 1-0 defeat to Manchester United in the semi-final second leg of the Carabao Cup. It will be interesting to see if the Argentinian will be unleashed on the Tottenham defence for this important fixture or left on the bench by Guardiola.

Aguero is a top-priced 10/3 shot with VBet to open the scoring on Sunday afternoon in a bet that is likely to prove very popular with punters.

Tottenham’s first option for First Goalscorer calculations is South Korean forward, Son Heung-Min, who is available at the best industry price of 9/1 with Unibet and 888Sport. Son has hit six goals in the Premier League so far this season, and he could be given the main striking role in this game. If that is indeed the case, then 9/1 represents excellent value.

Others of note in this market include Raheem Sterling, who is in a barren run recent form for his club, with no goal in 2020 thus far, by his usually very high standards. The Manchester City attacker can be backed at 21/4 with Unibet and 888Sport to notch first and break the recent trend. Kevin De Bruyne is a player of obvious quality and the Belgian star can be backed at 8/1 with Betfred and VBet to score first.

Finally, Dele Alli is another option to consider from a Tottenham perspective as the England attacker could be the man to break the deadlock at the tempting odds of 11/1 with Unibet and 888Sport.

Other Side Bets

Our prediction for this game is that the match will be highly entertaining but is likely to end in a stalemate after ninety minutes. Two fairly obvious short-priced selections come from the Both Teams to Score and the Under 2.5 Goals in the Match markets. These particular options can be backed at 3/5 for BTTS with Sporting Bet and Betway, and 17/10 for Under 2.5 with Unibet and 888Sport. I wouldn’t put anyone off backing these bets, but I’m preferring to find something else of better value.

The 9/2 on offer with Coral for the Match to end in a Draw and Both Teams to Score looks to be worthy of a punt. This game can be expected to be a very attacking game on both sides, with goals being highly likely. City are much more vulnerable defensively this season and Tottenham can take advantage and get something from the game.

Our Correct Score offering for this game is a 1-1 draw at full-time. This prediction can be backed with Betfred and Coral at the standout price of 8/1, which is worthy of a small investment.

Best Bets:

• Both Teams to Score at 3/5 with SportingBet and Betway
• Both Teams to Score and the Match to end in a Draw at 9/2 with Coral
• Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Manchester City Correct Score bet at 8/1 with Betfred